Americans traveling to Cuba?

Comments

Cheers Terry why did you feel necessary to belittle my post and then repeat the same information ? I understand you think of yourself as the authority on Cuba but you not the only person who has been there.

Cheers terry, there is no evidence that you wrote the article on Trip Advisor also the article has been edited by several people,(108 ) i.e. information from different sources. I am not claiming any credit and I do not need a lesson in manners.

The article is 99.9% mine. Most of those 100+ edits are either mine or rollbacks because the edits by other people were negated because they were incorrect. That article has been published on multiple websites over the course of many years and it has had hundreds and hundreds upon thousands of hits.

Not knowing that the original author and main editor - Martian 24 - is me is one thing, but claiming that you, "... gathered the following information from a number of reliable sources..." is wrong. At the very least you should have credited the original source instead of simply Cutting & Pasting.

Goodness me what a storm in a teacup. Since when was cutting and pasting a crime? As I have such a busy life, I will leave you to sweat the small stuff. So I wont be responding to any more of your self righteous posts.

Just to put my two cents in on Alethia's comments. CheersTerry is 100% spot on with his remarks. I've been to Cuba also and have responded to other poster's questions but using my own words and experiences. CheersTerry may have commented after my remarks but it was always in an informful and supportive manner. I never took it in a negative or belittling way. But I also wasn't plagerising anyone else's work. There's no crime in cutting and pasting as long as you give credit where it's properly due, which you not only failed to do but instead made it out as you were the one who did the work. And just an F.Y.I for you Alethia, Terry IS an authority on Cuba.If you take the time to scan this board you'd realize that. He was extemely helpful to me before my first trip. If anyone is being self righteous here it's yourself.

Being an American, I never brought anything back with me on my previous trips to Cuba but was planning to return there again very soon. Not that I was ever a big souvenir collector but would like very much to bring a few small things back for myself and family etc. Even though I never had any issues going through U.S. customs previously, I never brought anything back before, do you think this might create any issues? Thanks

We are US citizens but also hold European passports. We are going to Cuba through Toronto in November. Will Canada stamp our US passports when we enter from the US and from Cuba? Is it better to do the trip Toronto-Cuba-Toronto under our European passports?

Cuba peole are nice and very freindly.But people here also shared your experince which is not good experience. But for a safer side first contact with 2 3 people there and tell them that you are american if they welcome you then its fine but if not then dont tell anybody that you are american.

Just read this forum and I wanted to echo everyone in giving our thanks for your expert advice. I'm an American traveling to Cuba from London and I just wanted to confirm that I can buy my tourist card on my flight. I may also be in Cuba for a few weeks (outside of resorts) so I'm a bit concerned about money. Should I just bring a lot of eruos or GBP and hope not to run out? Or are american express travelers checks worth getting? Any recommendation on that would be appreciated.

Can't venture a guess when you give no clue of your airline, tour operator or whether you're flying on a package tour or independently. They're all handled differently in the UK... some Tour Operators mail you the Tourist Card, others give it to you when you check-in, others doesn't supply it at all and you have to acquire it yourself through the embassy or use someone like this:

I'm not using any tour operator, just flying independently on Condor Air from London to Cuba via Germany. I was under the (perhaps false) impression that I could buy a tourist card somewhere en route from London to Cuba (at my departing airport, on the flight or once I arrive in Cuba). Is that not the case?

You must be in possession of the Cuban Tourist Card before you arrive in Cuba. I'm not aware of any airline that will even allow you to board without the Tourist Card.

From the Condor website:

Our flight prices to Cuba do not include the costs for the entry card. Entry cards are available for 25.00 euro at the Condor ticket desk in Frankfurt, at the Celebi ticket desk in Vienna and in the transit area at Frankfurt Airport if you arrive in Frankfurt on a shuttle flight. If you have booked your holiday through a tour operator, please contact them for information on entry card fees. Please note that a departure tax must be paid locally.

I booked through Condor but the flight appears to be operated by Thomas Cook Airlines. On the website, it says:

Those passengers that are a British Citizen holding a UK passport issued in the UK is required to complete the Tourist Card Prior to arriving into Cuba. A tourist card will be issued free of charge per person which is included in the cost of your flights. This will be sent out to you via the post once your flights have been confirmed and booked. The Cuban tourist cards must be completed in one colour ink (either blue or black, not a combination of both). Incorrectly completed tourist cards will be invalid and new card will have to be purchased at 15.00 CUC. This is a cash only payment.

Non-British Citizen Passport holders or British Citizen holding a UK Passport issued abroad or holders of British Subject Passports should contact the appropriate consulate or embassy for clarification.

Please note: passport, visa regulations and fees can change at any time and you should therefore check with your travel agent or the relevant embassy well in advance of travel. It can often take some time to obtain a visa, so you are advised to apply in plenty of time.

This is a bit vague for US citizens. For more detail. I fly from London Stansted into Cologne/Bonn and was thinking I'd purchase my tourist card at either of those airports. But I can't find anything that explicitly states that this is possible. Also, I haven't purchased health insurance specific for Cuba but I think I can do that once I arrive in Cuba. I fly Tuesday morning (within 48 hours) so I don't think I have time to mess with embassies, consulates, etc.

It is a bit vague - Thomas Cook is not a very articulate Tour Operator and there's mistakes in much of their published info about Cuba - but believe me, they will have Tourist Cards available at their Customer Service desk. The reason I know this is that any mistake on the Tourist Card results in them not accepting the TC at check-in and they make you purchase a new TC on the spot. The Thomas Cook check-in agents like to think of themselves as Cuban Immigration officials, haha.

Health insurance can be purchased when you arrive, there's an Asistur kiosk at every Cuban airport that receives international passengers. It's cheap and it works great in Cuba.

Terry, will you please explain. Health insurance as you know is different from travel insurance, so why does a person going to Cuba not need travel insurance as this covers far more than just health matters.

I did see on his website that casas particulares are about 30 CUC per night in Havana and other top tourist places. Is that how much I should really expect to pay or can I find casas particulares for less? I'm used to cheap hostels so I don't need a private room or extra amenities...just a bed and some friendly faces

Also, so far the itinerary includes Matanza, Havana, Vinales, and Trinidad. Any other places you'd recommend that are slightly off the typical tourist trail? Just looking for authentic experiences and also trying to practice my Spanish so don't mind if little/no English is spoken. I've got 3 weeks.

Lastly, will I be asked to prove that I have a flight leaving the country? So far I've only booked one way as I haven't decided how long I'll be staying...though I suspect I'll leave end of Dec/beginning of Jan

So long as the Insurance Provider has no US ties then it's fine. It's such a complicated financial and corporate world though that anyone going to Cuba needs to GET IT IN WRITING that their insurance company does indeed cover Cuba because some of the largest European Insurance Companies are partially owned by US companies, thus their coverage in Cuba is illegal.

Another issue this raises for American travellers is that none of the US credit or debit cards will work in Cuba either. This extends to many foreign credit/debit cards as well because so many foreign financial institutions have ties to US banks.

Nice casa particulars are indeed 30 - 35 CUC night. You can hunt around though and find cheaper. Generally you'll be hard pressed to find anything for less than 20 CUC though because you're not offering a long term stay so there's not much room for negotiation.

Up until very recently stereotypical "hostels" didn't exist in Cuba but they're now legal so they're starting to spring up in Havana. Try Googling Casa Silvente, Rolando´s Backpacker, Hostel Iraida, Havana Backpackers, Hamel Hostel, Havana Nilda, etc. in Havana. You can get a dorm bed for about 10 CUC.

Unless you're a trustafarian dreadheaded backpacker who smells funny you'll never be bothered about showing a departing flight. One word of caution though... buying an exit flight out of Cuba isn't as simple as jumping on the internet like it is at home...

No need to worry about finding "off the beaten path" in Cuba. Old Havana is tourist central, but walk for 5 minutes in any direction away from the tour bus hordes and you'll be in a neighbourhood that never sees a tourist.

The usual gringo trail triangle for a first timer is Havana (big insane city) to Vinales (small country town) to Trinidad (quiet small city with beach).

Terry, any tricks for cheap airfare in and out of Cuba? Skyscanner keeps misquoting fares to me and I've tried going to Cubana directly but it doesn't let you toggle between destinations and dates very easily. I'm trying to get to Peru in late Dec but I can't for the life of me find a way to do it for less than 400 Euro. With such a flexible schedule I figured I could get down there for hald of that, even if I had to Mexico City first, Caracas, Cancun, whatever. Any ideas? Many, many thanks.

Hi Terry, I just had a quick question and a comment. First, I'm planning to be in Santiago de Cuba this month and wanted to visit the Barcardi mansion/house, not the museum. Seems I've had some problems trying to locate it. Last couple of times I was there nobody seemed to know where it was or that it even existed, kept steering me towards the museum. I've tried even finding the location online but am having trouble. Might you have an idea what street its located on? The second thing I just wanted to make a comment on was about the required medical insurance. I'm an American, so naturally I figured I'd be even more singled out for having to show proof of having it. Everytime I've been to Cuba so far it was never brought up to me or asked for. I actually never even bought it before I left the first time I went because I figured I'd just end up purchasing it there if they asked about it, which they didn't. Do you have any idea why I keep getting by without this? Is it just luck or lack of enforcement? Thanks.

Gabe: Flights in and out of the Caribbean are always expensive. Forget Skyscanner or any of the other internet based search engines (no one does Cuba properly) and start looking at the individual airlines separately. Copa, Taca, Lan, Cubana, etc. do some great seat sales.

PM: Sorry, I don't hang out in Santiago much so I'm really clueless about the city. Good luck tracking it down. I addressed the Health Insurance above, on Dec. 7. No surprise that you haven't been asked... 600,000+ Americans flew into Cuba last year and not everyone is hassled. You slipped through the cracks, no big deal. What would be a big deal is if you have a true medical emergency... without insurance I hope you have a very fat wallet...

To think the US government doesn't know when one of its citizen's travels to Cuba is naive in the digital age. Snowden gave us insight, no? Passports "stamps" are merely quaint memorabilia. Watch what the immigration agent at your return destination does with your passport and know the NSA has you on a list before you clear customs. Whether they choose to take any action now, or years from now, is another story, but you can't fool them.